


|CONCLUSION: Love|

by cyndrat



Series: Detroit: Reverse Roles [14]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Android Gavin Reed, Fluff, Human Upgraded Connor | RK900, M/M, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Role Reversal, Sappy, Seriously - Pure Fluff, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 11:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18603742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyndrat/pseuds/cyndrat
Summary: They both tend to get caught up in work; the difference is that Gavin can literally shut away the cases and his thoughts regarding them. Nines, organic human that he is, sometimes has more difficulty letting loose and just relaxing.Gavin's got a great plan to remedy that.





	|CONCLUSION: Love|

**Author's Note:**

> this stupid little fluff idea began on February 15th.... which is like, a long time ago. that's also, I'm pretty sure, when I was in the midst of writing **Ghost** and I, I needed something light and fluffy to give me a break from hurt and pain and angst.
> 
> this... probably fits in after **Ghost**? probably
> 
> also: Ripple and Echo are the names Amelia suggested that the brown- and blue-haired Tracis chose for themselves, so I slipped those names in there
> 
> in my reverse!AU, android!Gav gets attached to North pretty much right out of leaving CyberLife Tower (see [NK900: Become...](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1335091)) and then in the ~two weeks he spends at Jericho he meets Echo and Ripple. then at the DPD he meets Tina and takes to conspiring with her because she reminds him of North like that
> 
> just. pure love for these two.

"Hello my love, I'm h-" Nines says. _Home,_ yes Gavin knows already, he'd coded a process 42 days ago to sync him up with the apartment's electronics whenever he's in range. So he knew the second Nines laid his hand to the building exterior lockpad, and again when he touched the lock mechanism for the apartment itself.

What he doesn't know is why his human has paused before finishing his sentence. So Gavin slides forwards a little ways, careful to avoid Chamomile's tail. He undoes a tie, tugs the corner of a sheet back to give him enough space to slip his head and shoulders up to look past the back of the couch.

Nines has frozen mid-turn after closing the door. He’s silent for nearly five seconds, then his feet shuffle as he finishes the turn to stand facing where the couch has been moved to. His gaze roams across the sheets draped over chairs and stools and broomsticks, then he sighs, the following sounds indicating that he’s toeing off his shoes and pulling his jacket off to hang it on the hook. “Gavin.” 

“Yeah Rich?” Gavin suppresses a giggle and pops back down from his viewpoint, resecuring the fabric. 

“What is… this?” He can imagine his partner gesturing helplessly at the upheaval of his living room space, with a long-suffering almost-smile on his face, because Nines always humours Gavin in the end. 

He snickers, and rolls over to stare into Cham’s eye, raising one finger to her chin. It’s not hard to infuse his tone with nonchalance, with confidence, with do-you-even-have-to-ask-it-should-be-obvious. Because it is pretty frickin obvious. “Blanket fort, duh.” 

Nines says, very slowly, “What?” as if the answer was somehow lacking. “Why?” he says next, which is much better, seeking motive is much more befitting of Gavin’s detective. 

“You gotta relax baby, work’s been dragging you the fuck down and you need some fun time.” And the idea of ‘fun’ too often escapes this human, so Gavin clearly needed to take the matter into his own hands. Quite impressively so, he’s certain. He’d gotten marks of approval from Echo and Ripple, and North (begrudging front definitely covering up fondness), and Tina, and a scoff from Connor via Hank that came across as affectionate. So yeah, he’s pretty sure he’s done good with the whole thing. 

There’s another pause, just as heavy as when Nines had first stepped into the apartment, then a weighty sigh. Finally, footsteps. Footsteps coming nearer, and orienting to the entrance Gavin had devised and where Cham pokes out, meowing up to their human. 

Gavin curls his body to orient his head to the entrance, gazing at Nines who is kneeling there and just staring silently, icy eyes roving over what little is visible from the opening. 

He can’t quite read their human’s expression… it’s hovering somewhere between reluctant affection and another deep sigh. Seriously, what is it with the Andersons and sighing all the fucking time? It’s like some sorta weird coping mechanism maybe. If so, it’s better than self-destructive habits. 

Nines smiles finally, his face shifting slowly into something soft and warm and beautiful as he leans over and starts to crawl forwards. 

Gavin scrambles up to his knees and fairly jumps forwards to block the path, throwing out his hands to halt Nines’ movement. “Ah ah ah! Baby, honey, Richard darling, you gotta pay admission!” There’s a beat of silence. 

“Admission,” Nines repeats, and then they’re dissolving into that silence again. His human is looking less enthused about this by the second. But if he tries to back out now, Gavin has been a bit devious. Only ever slightly, and mostly only when it comes to his love. 

He had anticipated hesitation to his antics to occur somewhere along the way, and to counteract it if necessary… 

Gavin has hostages. 

Nines can’t see em from where he kneels outside the fort proper, but his personal tablet, laptop, current books, favoured fruit gummy snacks, and homemade caramel liqueur are all gathered up and tucked in a box behind Gavin. He also might be wearing Nines’ police academy hoodie under his CyberLife jacket… and he might have Nines’ phone charger secure in a pocket. Just maybe. 

He smiles and curls his fingers in his lap, waiting to see what his human is going to go for. 

“Fine.” With that grumble, Nines reaches out to touch a finger under his chin, tipping his face up. It’s a lovely little kiss - Gavin can tell that his human’s tired but trying for his sake and so, so soft with him, as always. Like he isn’t several ten-thousand dollars worth of tech, durable enough to leap down a storey with no damage and run forever and lift Nines up above his head. 

Gavin grins, and the expression feels softer than it sometimes does, but he’s soft as a fucking ball-of-fluff kitten for his man, that isn’t news. He reaches out and boops Nines’ nose, then scrambles backwards, fully conscious of the box of stuff and the edge of the TV stand yet entirely focused on the way Nines growls and crawls after him. 

He almost laughs, _wants_ to laugh. Because Nines is a tall bastard, and while Gavin had devised the main space of the blanket fort to be comfortable for him, he only had so many viable options for a sturdy entryway, and Nines is struggling a little to navigate the bars and boxes holding the thing together. 

“Come on darling, I’m waiting!” And then he changes his tone when a few seconds of achingly slow movement follow his words. “Don’t make me wait, Rich,” he whines with a cheeky grin, and he knows full well he’s just egging Nines on and that it’s only a matter of time before the guy gets tired of fighting with the fort. 

Nines’ gaze sharpens and he shuffles a little farther in, and then he’s fairly lunging forwards. And then Gavin squeaks as he’s landed on, pinned to the blanket-floor by ten fuckin feet of human. 

“Aw, hey there,” he chirps, thankful for an artificial breathing system and reinforced endoskeleton-type chassis because it means 186 lbs of weight doesn’t wind him even for a second. 

Nines sighs, and it sounds more amused than tired this time, and a moment later he’s propping his chin up on Gavin’s chest. “Hi,” he says back, softly, with a smile playing around the corners of his lips. And Gavin, Gavin just stares for a second. _Beautiful,_ his human is so fuckin beautiful, especially in the little unexpected moments like this. 

“Love you,” Gavin murmurs, the words surprising him a little, because he definitely hadn’t authorized that response. But it’s true nonetheless. 

“Aww, aren’t you sappy,” Nines teases, running a hand up Gavin’s side beneath the CyberLife jacket. He stretches to press a kiss to Gavin’s throat then lays his head back down. “Wait.” Hm? Gavin raises his head up, peering down at the perfectly combed dark hair that’s all he can see from this angle. “Is this my Academy hoodie?” 

“Uhh,” Gavin says. Nines is up a second later, muscles flexing through his arms as he sets his hands heavy on Gavin’s shoulders, cages his hips between his knees. 

“And my fucking phone charger in your pocket?” Blue eyes narrow on Gavin’s face, glaring down in what Gavin is pretty sure is a fond way before his gaze wanders sideways. Gavin turns his head to follow the stare- Ah, Nines sees his box of hostages. “Gavin.” 

He stays quiet, waiting for something to follow the flat utterance of his name. Nothing follows. “Y-yeah Rich?” 

Nines’ eyes swing back to him. They’re sharp, and soft pink lips curve down into a little frown as he watches. He swallows, meets that unblinking gaze. “You are-” Nines leans down, more of his weight falling onto Gavin’s shoulders- “a goddamn-” and he, he’s actually getting a bit worried now- _“devious bastard.”_ And then his systems are blaring a danger alert, combat protocols fighting with him because Nines is _attacking him,_ is digging lithe fingers into his sides and low across his abdomen. 

And he’s gasping for breath, blinking away warning notifications and system disruption messages as he writhes beneath those fingers and it’s a little bit too much, but a good too much, the build-up of messages distracting him and setting his processors floating a little. Air catches in his throat and escapes on the trill of a laugh that starts to gain a burst of bright static to it when the tickle attack continues. 

Internal temp is raising a bit, but he could care less because Nines is fluttering his fingers closer and closer to the more sensitive spots they’ve discovered until he’s jabbing at them with no mercy and Gavin is beyond lost in the feeling of it all. His body reacts to the stimulation, twisting and arching and hands clutching helplessly at Nines’ arms. His vocal module is getting overwhelmed, barely making human-like sounds anymore because the trilling laughter is devolving further and further into static now. 

This is the worst, but also the fucking best; Nines has assured him that his LED flicks yellow sometimes, but never red when he’s attacked like this, and though he has only minimal control over his reactions, the way it makes him _feel_ is just, just so much, so light and real and _human._

He lets out a loud burst of static and claps a hand to his mouth. His body’s writhing is slowing proportionately to the way Nines’ attack is waning, fingers still dancing over his synthskin but lighter now. 

He catches a breath and twists abruptly, dislodging Nines’ hands and then crawls speedily away, static and vocal trills still coming out a little as his sensors slowly catch up with the interruption of stimulation. 

Nines is laughing wildly behind him. And Gavin can imagine it, the man’s chest heaving as he sits back on his heels, eyes sparkling and half-closed. He glances back, very briefly, just to confirm that he’s envisioned it perfectly but Nines-in-his-mind has nothing on Nines-in-real-life. The mental image has no hope of being as bright and perfect and beautiful in his delight as the actual, physical being. 

“Babe,” Nines gasps on a breath. “Gavin, c’mon. Come back to me.” Gavin chances another look, sees the way his human is stretching out his arms and twitching his fingers invitingly and wearing his sunrise-smile that he _knows_ Gavin has trouble saying no to. It’s just so soft and all-encompassing. 

“You abused me!” Gavin exclaims, turning his head away to hide his own grin. “You took advantage of my greatest weakness!” 

Nines laughs, loud and free like the butterflies that frequent the garden behind the station. “No my love,” he says through a chuckle, _“this_ is your greatest weakness.” And Gavin turns back to him, has to because he isn’t sure what Nines means- 

The fucker is cuddling Cham _and_ Hex in his arms, the cats looking more than content as he blinks those blue eyes at Gavin over their fluffy heads, mouth hidden by their combined floof but the pure goddamn love in those eyes strikes him right in his thirium pump. 

“Phck,” Gavin groans, twisting away to hide his face in his hands. He’s right. The beautiful fucker’s right, like usual. “Nooo,” he whines, not entirely sure what he’s trying so hard to protest. “Nooooooo.” They’re so goddamn cute, the three of them together, starting to melt his thoughts and override his system prompts without even touching him. 

The only thing better is the _four_ of them together. 

So- So he has to fix that, there’s nothing else he can think to do. He pushes up from the floor, twists around quick enough to startle Nines a little and he shoves his face into the crook of one of Nines’ arms. He reaches out with one hand to rub at the cats’ bellies, threading his fingers into dark hair with the other. 

Nines is nuzzling into his own hair a moment later, spreading kisses against the top of his head and Gavin loses count of them quickly, just lets himself sink into the sensation. 

rA9, this is perfect. This is the exact feeling he had in mind when he began construction, this is what he was hoping for as he was at Echo and Ripple’s place doing his sewing, when he sent off pictures and video to them and North and Hank seeking approval. This was his goal. 

His love is relaxed, cuddling their furry babies and Gavin, and the counts of his heartbeat and breathing and stress levels are so incredibly optimal that Gavin kind of wants to stop him from leaving ever, the four of them just staying here forever and ever. 

“Love you,” Nines whispers into his hair, the cats slipping from their embrace. The human widens his arms to wrap them around Gavin instead, pulling him up into his lap. 

Gavin is… _purring?_ What the fuck kind of program is that, when did he get that? Nines laughs softly, rubbing one hand over his back. “Love you, I love you too Rich,” Gavin says, not quite babbling. He curves into Nines’ hold, letting the goddamn purr keep going because why the fuck not, the cats purr when they’re content so why shouldn’t he? 

Nines hums and tugs at Gavin’s body, lays them down together on the blanket and Gavin winds his arms around his human’s waist. Fingers scritch at his head softly, a hand skims down his side and back up. There’s a steady heartbeat under his ear, gentle breaths ruffling his hair. 

It’s fucking _perfect._

**Author's Note:**

> dunno if anyone's watched any of Bryan Dechart's twitch streams, but I've recently(ish) started watching the first playthrough of Detroit he did with his (then fiancee) wife Amelia and. 1) they are so damn cute. like. it's absolutely ridiculous. I can only imagine how cute and loving and adorable they are in real life, and everyone should absolutely go watch those videos if only for their interaction. 2) Bryan... calls Amelia 'my love'... and that...... that is so fucking cute. and I just. I just needed that.
> 
> And that works, because I had Gav start with just calling Nines 'darling' but that feels a little like it's not fitting for all situations? to me? so anyways, sometimes he says 'darling' but sometimes it's 'baby' or 'honey' or sometimes even 'sweetheart'
> 
> And way back when I wrote **Breaking Routine** I gave Nines 'babe' for Gavin, which is really good and easy and feels good for all situations, but I just felt that there was a particular sweetness and adoration in the phrase 'my love' sooo I borrowed it from Bryan


End file.
